An Eventful Valentine's
by Gloomy Shadows
Summary: "What is the meaning of this." he growled, motioning to the cards. Rouge blinked, followed his gaze and sighed. "For the fifth time I'm telling ya, its cards for people that I want to give to for Valentine's day." she said. If this was another stupid holiday like Christmas or Halloween he definitely did not want to participate. Mostly Shadouge. Not your normal Valentines Day story.


An Eventful Valentine's

Shadow the hedgehog growled as he saw Rouge the bat enter the room with a bunch of pink, white, and red cards in her hands. Shadow watched as she put them on the table. He cleared his throat in an annoyed fashion to have her acknowledge his presence. "Oh hey Shadow." was all he got. Shadow growled at sat up on the couch he had been previously laying on.

"What is the meaning of this." he growled, motioning to the cards. Rouge blinked, followed his gaze and sighed.

"For the fifth time I'm telling ya, its cards for people that I want to give to for Valentine's day." she said. There, that foreign word again. _Valentine's Day_. What the hell was that? If this was another stupid holiday like Christmas or Halloween he definitely did _not _want to participate.

"Is that a Holiday?" Shadow demanded. Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Valentine's. That's the most stupid name some one could ever think of; who would name a holiday 'Valentine's?'" he snapped. Rouge frowned.

"You don't know what Valentine's Day is do you Shadow?" she wondered. Taking a snort Shadow made as a yes, she smiled and winked at him. "Well, it's a day where... I guess you show your love towards someone you care about."

"Love?" Shadow scoffed. "What a weak and pathetic emotion. Who cares about love?" Rouge ignored him and continued like he never spoke.

"You also give cards to friends and family and give out presents to the ones closest to you." she finished. Shadow gritted his teeth together.

"So it's like Christmas all over again?" he hissed at her. Rouge shook her head.

"Nope. It's all about _love." _she said in a sweet, mocking tone. She winked at him as he began to growl.

"Well I'm just telling you in advance that I'm not participating. This holiday seems more idiotic then the others." he snarled. Rouge smirked.

"Yes, and this 'idiotic' holiday is one you _will _spend with me." she stated calmly.

"What do you mean 'I will spend with you'." he mimicked furiously. "I will do no such thing!" he yelled. Rouge remained calm like she already planned something and it was going according to plan.

"Oh honey, I knew you'd say such a thing, so I thought, hey, why not make a deal? Because deals are always so friendly and fair. I thought of a good one!" she said in a teasing sing-song tone. Before Shadow could even open his mouth she continued. "So I thought, you celebrate this day with me... and I'll let you continue to live in my house." she said, smiling and blinking her eyes in a flirty fashion.

"WHAT! THAT'S BLACKMAIL!" Shadow roared. Rouge smirked a winning smirk.

"Fine handsome, I'll just begin to pack your stuff..." she said and paused."Well, I'm sure you can live with Sonic. He won't mind the company." she said after a few more seconds in thought. That part had Shadow slightly horrified. His eyes clearly widened in the thought of it.

_'Living with that faker! I wouldn't be able to survive even one day before losing my mind!' _Shadow thought. He growled and shook his head. "No need." he muttered, seeing Rouge turn around made his frown deepen. She knew he'd give in.

"What was that?" she called over. Grabbing a few of his item's that lay in the room and shoving it in a bag. "I can't hear you over the sound of me packing your stuff." she teased. Shadow growled and repeated himself louder.

"No need. I'll spend this stupid holiday with you." he said, loud enough for her to hear although he already knew she heard him the first time. Rouge smirked and walked over to Shadow, ending up wrapping her arms around him and smiled. She then buried her face in his spikes as she drove him into an embrace.

"Aww, Shady, really? You're too kind." she said. She then got off and smirked. "Well..." she said, looking over her shoulder to the mess she'd made packing his stuff."Look's like you've got some unpacking to do. Have fun." she told him as he growled. Lovely. He thought he could have a nice, quiet day since the faker was gone for a one-day tour to I think it was Italy or something, but no, he has to clean up the mess his partner deliberately made while agreeing to spend a holiday with her... Based. On. Love. Just _perfect._

_. . ._

_'How did I get myself into such a disgraceful situation?' _Shadow thought to himself as he lay in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling with a twisted expression on his face. How did she do that? How could she, of _all _people, get through the ultimate life-form to get what she wants? It's unbelievable!

No-one but Maria was able to do such a thing, and even _then, _Maria _never _used that fact against him. He even thought that she never even seemed to notice the advantage that she practically had the hedgehog walk her footsteps instead of his. He'd never hurt her, and also would never fail to do as she pleases. Why does Rouge have to be the first to do the opposite?

"Damn bat-girl." he muttered to himself as he turned to have his back face the wall. "Her and her stupid antics." he growled as he shoved his head into his pillow. "Who need's love." As soon as he said that, he felt something under his pillow become more apparent as he felt a slight, _very _slight, lump where the object was placed at. Shadow sighed and placed his hands under the pillow and pulled out what felt like a photograph. He rolled onto his back -which was unmistakably uncomfortable- and peered down to look at the photo he held in his hands.

"Maria." he whispered. He then closed his eyes. "Well...I change my mind...not entirely. Love isn't..._pathetic..._but it is a weakness, no doubt about that." he whispered and closed his eyes. A weakness indeed... He rolled once again over back to his position and outstretched his arm so that he could pull a tiny drawer from a small coffee table that was set neatly at his bedside and placed the picture as if it was a prized possession -which it was to him- with the exact amount anxiousness and carefulness in there. He then let his arm fling down to his bedside and lightly band against the bed frame as he closed his eyes.

. . .

"Rise and shine handsome!" Shadow awoke violently in a natural fighting stance as Rouge called out to him from the hallway. His eyes darted viciously around the room and his fur lay slightly arched from his natural state. "My, my, are you the cautious guy." she laughed quietly. Shadow sent her a disapproving glances before his fur finally settled down, sensing no danger. "You're like a kitty." she teased playfully.

Shadow only grunted. He leapt off his bed gracefully to the floor and walked over to what looked like a shoe rack and had his hand grip around his hover sneakers and take then from the rack. He pulled his leg warmers up higher as he then slipped on his sneakers. He reached and grabbed his gloved and pulled them on to have them reach a right amount of tightness before looking back at Rouge.

"Don't ever do that again." he growled at her. Rouge fluttered her eyes flirtatiously.

"Sure thing." she teased and left his sight as quickly as he could have without trying. He watched her go and sighed. He let his eyes roll as he let out a slight yawn from lack of sleep. he then straightened his pose.

"Vulgar bat." he whispered. "You can try as much as you want, your 'flirtations' will never work on me as does to other men."

. . .

Rouge had a smirk on as she fixed breakfast for the only two actual household members with a metabolism. She only twitched her ear in acknowledgment as E-123Omega entered the room. "GREETING ROUGE." he said in his false, robotic voice.

"Hey Omega. What's up?"

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAN-"

"Lemme rephrase, how are you?"

"I AM DOING 'WELL'"

"That's good to know."

Between the now developing silence between robot and bat, Shadow decided to join in. "Now how are _you _handsome? Better mood now or still grumpy and emo as usual?" she chuckled, jabbing the hedgehog who was in reach playfully in the guts with her shoulder. Shadow gave her a dirty look.

"I am not emo." he grunted.

"Sure, whatever." she grinned as she finished her food and placed them all on a plate. "I made some pancakes Shadow, want some?"

"Hmph."

"I'll take that as a yes." Rouge sighed as she placed evenly the batch of freshly made pancakes between Shadow and herself. Shadow took a seat and began to eat quietly, almost as if he didn't notice he had company. Rouge sighed and ate her meal as well in silence. She suddenly remembered something she had known earlier and a wide smile spread along her face.

"Hey Shadow..."

"Hmph."

"Do you know what day it is?"

"..."

"It's _Valentines! _Oh how I can't _wait _to spend the whole day with you!" she grinned at the hedgehog who stared darkly at his food which he had suddenly stopped eating. Shadow and Rouge suddenly felt themselves enveloped with silence that both knew neither had the time to break, so they both finished in utter silence.

"So...what'cha wanna do for Valentines? Where you wanna go?" Rouge asked with a smile once she and Shadow placed their dishes in the sink. Shadow stopped washing his hands with the kitchen sink and gave Rouge a long stare which made Rouge feel suddenly uncomfortable.

"I don't know." he deadpanned. "How am I to know of something I for one don't want to do and was utterly blackmailed into doing so, and two, never participated as long as the memory stands?" Rouge sighed and glanced at Shadow, he really didn't want to be with her did she. Rouge's eyes trailed around the room for something that could bring her an idea. Only then did she notice that Omega vanished from the room out of nowhere. _'That's strange...' _she thought. She turned her attention into thinking once again until an idea popped into her mind.

"Well...we can go to the beach!" she said after a while of thought. Shadow just blinked.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" Shadow suddenly scolded her fiercely. "The waters going to be _freezing _after winter!" Rouge sighed.

"There are things one can do at the beach that doesn't revolve around with water." she sighed once again. Shadow was just too stubborn at times.

"Well...if that's what's going to make you happy, then fine, I'll go." he grunted. Rouge would have been flattered if it wasn't for his cold tone he had said those words in. Her ears slightly drooped as she nodded her head.

"Yeah… Sure. Let's go." And with that said, Shadow with nothing but the clothing he already was currently wearing -which was nothing but his shoes and warmers/comforters- and with Rouge a jacket, the duo walked quietly out the house and headed off towards the beach. Rouge asked Shadow if he could drive her there with his motorcycle there and he just grunted but allowed such an action nonetheless. The drive to the beach was mute, as well as so far the actual trip on the beach.

Mostly all they did was stay silent. They gave one another glances once in a while but they were along with no words as well. They watched cars pass by as well as houses, buildings, trees, parks, and many other things you might see in a drive around the city or town.

Rouge blinked as she silently watched many pairs of boys and girls along the way. Some were hugging, some were just chilling out. Some laughed, others just held hands, some went to the direction of a movie theatre and others did stuff related to that of Valentines. Most of them were young couples but many were older then others as well.

Shadow watched them in silent disgust and curiosity. Love, as he had always since his memory loss, and forever since, thought of love to be such a weakness. Love can be easily held against you. Used against you. He had experienced that personally. Even so, the way couples acted so openly and differently towards each other just because of a holiday was interesting. Nevertheless, he still didn't want to participate. He felt Rouge tug closer to his back as they rode over bumps on the rode. He almost forgot she was there, and since it was practically and 'one-person only' motorcycle, she had to straddle with him reluctantly.

Once on the beach, they had their ride parked nearby and quietly got off. Shadow locked their ride and threw the keys to Rouge, who put them in her jacket pocket. They then walked on to the beach themselves. Making no attempt for a conversation until Shadow got too irritated for the silence.

"What were you planning to do here?" Shadow growled as the treasure hunters eyes trailed among the shores and such of the beach.

"Well...usually beaches sometimes have pearls, even jewels and lot's of stuff related to those!" she said, having her jewel obsession face take over her calm one. Shadow grunted.

"Of course, 'cause that's the only thing you actually care about. Should've known..." Shadow mumbled. Now it was Rouge's turn to give him a dirty look. She grunted and looked away from him, now slightly regretting inviting him to celebrate the holiday with her.

Shadow sighed internally after seeing her sigh. It was not his entire fault he had done that. He just wasn't in the mood for these kind of games right now. He had better things to do then to celebrate a stupid holiday that he could do exactly same next year instead of this one, and using all this time for now to search for jewels...which they wouldn't find anyway! If jewels were here, they'd be _in _the water, not out. No way in hell would he be dragged down to get them for her, even with her slight advantage over him?

He couldn't help but feeling guilty nevertheless though. _'Not my fault she's the one partly ruining it for her. I guess I could make it up to her somehow...later...but right now I feel no need. She's the one ruining her _own _fun which I don't find at all amusing anyway.' _Still...

Rouge sighed as her ears folded against her scalp. "It's gettin' cold. Maybe you were right. We should head come now." she said and Shadow just nodded. The quietly walked back to their ride in, once again, too quiet silence. As also the only thing able to be heard while the ride home was going on itself was the engine rumbling as he drove sometimes quickly, others in not so much of a rush. Once they reached their house, the duo fell on the couch, one with eyes dull and the other expressionless.

"I wonder what we can do now..." she said, her voice trailing off. Shadow just grunted. Rouge got up suddenly frustrated and looked as if she were about to say something when the phone began to ring. Rouge ran over to the phone and picked it up, thankful for getting a distraction of the irritating ebony hedgehog still sitting on her couch.

"Hello, this is Rouge." Rouge said as she twirled her finger's around her locks that hung by her head.

"Hi'ya Rouge! This is Amy! I was wondering if you'd wanna come over to celebrate a Valentine's party we and Sonic created together! By 'you' meaning, you, Shadow and Omega if you guys aren't busy." Amy chirped. Rouge smiled.

"Of course hun. The problem is...Omega is...busy I guess and Shadow doesn't seem to want to participate in its 'pathetic' customs of a 'weak' holiday." Rouge grunted, appropriately mocking Shadow's exact words. Rouge looked over her shoulder to see the crimson eyes she had expected to meet with narrow down but say nothing. She then heard Amy sigh.

"Oh well... Well can you come?"

"Sure, I'd love to."

"Great! Be over any time, the party's just starting!" and with that, the phone went dead as ringing sounded out from it. Rouge nodded her head to no-one in particular and put the phone in its receiver.

"I'm gonna be gone for a while and actually have some _fun. _You should be good for the time I'm gone. I'm sure you know how to cook if you get hungry...and if not you can just make yourself some cereal or get an apple. Anything else I think you can do." she grunted and then gave Shadow a long glare. "Don't do anything stupid like blow up the house while I'm gone, okay?" All she got, like she thought she would, was a grunt. She nodded, grabbed her coat once again, and left without another word to him.

. . .

Rouge looked around as she quickly landed in a smooth glide at the front door of Amy's house. She knocked on it and waited profoundly for someone to open it. It was none-other then the blue speedster himself, Sonic, who had the pleasure into doing so.

"Hey Rouge. Amy said you'd be here. So Shads really didn't come." he commented. Rouge shook her head, confirming the azure hedgehog's thoughts. "Aww, I thought I could spar with him. I could really use the time to do so. I feel warred out and soon enough Eggman will have a new thing to pull on us." he said, his voice gradually getting cheerier the second. Rouge nodded. "Anyway, I know I'll get the chance to spar with Shadow later, but it still doesn't help with Eggman's part in this..."

"Wonder what he's up to now..." she questioned aloud. Sonic shrugged.

"Who knows? The guy can pull the most random tricks up his sleeve." Sonic laughed. Rouge smiled.

"Yeah, but if he lays a hand on one of my precious emerald..." she started and Sonic finished her off.

"...he's gonna have a heck load of trouble coming his way. I wouldn't even do such a thing, good or not."

"Don't you mean 'evil or not'?"

"Same thing."

"Whatever." Rouge said. "Can I come in?" she asked after an odd silence occurred. Sonic's cheeks became red as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Of..of course. Sorry 'bout that.' he chuckled.

Rouge came in and placed her coat on a coat rack. She then went to find some people to mingle with. She first bumped -literally- into Amy.

"Oh, sorry about that." Amy laughed nervously. "Hey! You came!" she said and hugged Rouge, who awkwardly hugged her back. When they let go of their embrace, Rouge eyed Amy curiously.

"So...you said _Sonic _and you planned this?" she asked, motioning to the room which was decorated professionally. Amy grinned a toothy grin.

"Yep!" she chirped. She then got Rouge's curiosity and sighed. "I kinda dragged Sonic into this...but he helped willingly when I told him what I planned for! He seemed excited actually! I'm getting closer to becoming his new girlfriend and I know it!"

"_New _girlfriend?"

"_First _girlfriend."

"That's what I thought."

"Hmm...So..." she started slyly. "How are you and Shadow?" Rouge suddenly blushed for no reason that she knew of.

"What do you mean, 'me and Shadow.'" she mimicked furiously as well as slightly agitated. "I am never paring up with that guy! Anyway...he's only a friend. Nothing about that fact will ever change as far as I can see..." Amy sighed and rolled her emerald green eyes.

"Whatever. It's just, you two are sooo good for each other." she said with her tone of slyness one again. Rouge grunted.

"Why do you say that? All he cares about is himself. You watch. He's probably doing something for only himself right now." Rouge growled. Amy sighed.

"Whatever. Anyway, let's go see Tails, Knuckles, and the rest of 'em!" she said, excitement returning in her voice. Rouge nodded and followed the over-excited pink hedgehog.

. . .

Shadow grunted once again for the umpteenth time of the day. "Maybe I should tell her I'm sorry...but for what? She won't accept it anyway." he grunted. He then looked over to his own coat which, even if he told Rouge he wouldn't need one, she bought for him anyway.

He walked over to it and picked out what was to be his 'wallet' and looked through it to see a handful of his money he had earned from working for GUN placed neatly in there. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he headed out towards door.

. . .

Rouge mingled with the rest of the group, mostly communicating in short-talk, and was now at the punch table, obviously drinking punch. She was just lucky that for now it seemed no one had the mind to spike it. She took another sip of her drink as her eyes traveled around the room. _'Not that I care too much, but I wonder what Shadow's doing right now...' _Rouge thought. _'Better not be getting into trouble...'_

She took another sip and looked around to her friends that were in different groups, having them be Valentine dates practically. Sonic was, reluctantly or not, with Amy. Silver with Blaze, as well as Tails with Cream. (But more as friends then anything else) Vanilla with Vector and a few others.

She finished her drink and walked over to Tails and Knuckles, who were in a deep conversation about what it seemed to be connections with the chaos emeralds. "That's would be so cool to be able to control the seven chaos emeralds with their master. It would be incredible actually. To think that the chaos emeralds have enough power to give Sonic, Shadow and Silver enough energy to transform to their super form and have energy as if it was nothing. Let alone when they become super emeralds and have the trio become maybe even Hyper! I've seen Sonic go hyper, so just imagine the three of 'em!" Tails exclaimed excitedly.

Rouge casually walked over to the two of them with a flirtatious smirk. "Hey boys." he said and winked. Tails, being too young or too mature to care of this act, simply greeted her, but Knuckles had a hard time having his cheeks become to its normal shade then to one identical to his dreadlocks.

"What do you want bat-girl?" Knuckles mumbled. Rouge smirked once again, which made Knuckles blush deeper.

"I was invited here ya know." she scolded him playfully.

"Well I thought you'd be busy searching for jewels."

"In this weather? Are you serious? If I were, the first jewel I'd go to would be the master emerald though..."

"Don't you dare."

"It's too high up right now so it'd be too damn cold." she sighed. Knuckles relaxed his sudden stiff position.

"Just the way I like it." he grunted. "Makes it unappealing for visitors." then as an after thought, "With an exception of Tails and Sonic." Tails in return, grinned nervously.

"Hey, it's not _my _fault Sonic likes friendly visit's to his 'friends'. No matter whom his 'friends' may be." he snickered. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

The party was like an actual party. Many people had been invited. Somewhere just out of view, lot's in many different parts of the house. Cream's little family, the Chaotix, ect. She looked over her shoulder as Amy called out to her guests.

"Hey everybody! Listen up! We're going to a dance club for the rest of the party. If you wanna come, I've got some limo's that can take us there. And don't worry, thanks to Sonic, the limo rides are the top quality." Amy said cheerfully through grinning teeth. "And if you want to stay here, its fine by me." she finished. Some people stayed put and continued their previous actions while others began to follow Amy out the house. Rouge decided it would hurt and followed Amy as well. The large group was split into smaller groups for different limos. Rouge was associated with herself -of course-, Knuckles, Tails and Sonic, as they all came out lastly.

Sonic and Tails took the middle seats and Knuckles and Rouge took the back. Rouge looked beside herself to see Knuckles staring out the window to the appearing night stars. Rouge opened her mouth to bring up a conversation, mostly build up of teasing, but Knuckles stopped her.

"Don't you dare Rouge." Rouge didn't seem to have the mind to say something back at the moment so she settled herself down in her seat and stared outside the window to the starry almost night sky as well. _'Beautiful' _she commented mentally.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were deeply into a game of concentration. They had chosen their object selection to be of foods. "Chili Dogs." Sonic stated and Tails stopped the momentum hand slapping and clapping of sort and his face showed of obvious tiredness.

"Sonic. You already said that."

"I did?"

"Twice."

"Oh. Well, why didn't you tell me!"

"For the last time, the object of the game is to _mess up _the other player."

"Meaning?"

"I won."

"Darn it!" Sonic complained. "You're too smart for me lil' bro. Too smart for your own age as well."

"Want to play again?" Tails asked. Sonic nodded then paused.

"The start is getting annoying and confusing, can we just skip it." Sonic whined.

"Fine." Tails muttered.

"Yay!" Sonic chirped and thought for a while. "How 'bout places."

"Specific or non-specific."

"Non-specific."

"Thought so."

And thus, the game once again began. "United states!" "Canada!" "Alabama!" "Mexico!" "England!" "Africa!" "Emerald coast!" "Space Colony ARK!" "Dance club!" "Oxford!" "DANCE CLUB!" "Sonic, you already said-" "No! The dance club is right there Tails!" Sonic cried out dramatically to get the kitsune's attention. Tails sighed and sweat dropped. Maybe his oldest friend liked parties a little _too _much?

After a long ride, they finally arrived. "Finally..." Knuckles muttered for the first time in the car ride other then saying those few warning words to Rouge. "We're here. I couldn't take another minute of Tails and Sonic's _game._" he grumbled. Rouge nodded her head in agreement.

When they arrived, the party started as normal except there were humans that they didn't know and they had the ability to do more stuff. Rouge walked over to a bar stand at took a seat as she watched everybody have a good enough time. Sometimes on occasion she would ask for a drink or two, but she didn't feel the need so she asked for plain water.

Anyway, if she changed her mind, she could probably get one off herself for free anyway. Once her water was delivered, she nodded in thanks and gave him some spare money that she held in payment for the drink. She watched in amusement as Amy walked over to Sonic and asked him to most likely dance with her. Sonic's cheeks instantly turned red but gave into it any way. It's not like he had a choice though. No one would want to mess with Amy when you could tell she was on erg to bring out her hammer.

She snickered as Amy danced graceful with Sonic and as Sonic attempted, but failed at trotting along to the moves with her. Rouge then sighed. At least he tried... Unlike another certain hedgehog she knew. She then looked over to the last hedgehog other then those two who decided to tag along. His silver fur glimmered in the low and dim lights of the club as he too, awkwardly tried to dance with Blaze.

She could tell it was just a friendly dance, but she thought it was cute. It did slightly make her curious and alarm her the same time to notice one in a while that Silver's personality or looks once in a while matched Shadow's...maybe...no, was it even possible? She shook her head and watched the two couples dance until the music stopped, and they all awkwardly parted from one another.

She glanced over to see Tails who looked like he was practically asleep. Sure the kid might have a few all-nighters once in a while to finish up his work but maybe the day took all his energy out of him.

Nonetheless, Tails kept arguing that the party should go on so it did. Rouge managed to tease and trick Knuckles to dance wit her so that she could use that fact in an argument against him later but enjoyed it still. Tails could, even tired, see that fact as well and couldn't help but smile. When Knuckles came back, it was Tails who wanted to tease him first.

"Looks like you had fun."

"Shut it fox-boy." he grumbled. He then added, "At least I can dance with someone." Tails looked unaffected by Knuckles' poorly made insult.

"Knuckles, as you can most likely tell, I'm just a kid. Eight actually, so I really don't -as I should- _care _about getting 'date's' and all that stuff. You're older then me yet I'm more mature." Tails laughed whole-heartedly, making Knuckles flush in anger.

"Why you little-"

"Hey, stop fighting girls." Rouge budded in, making Knuckles look away from Tails and the fox just roll his eyes. Tails then let out a decently long yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"Man, I'm tired." Tails commented and let out another yawn. Knuckles couldn't have agreed more as he too, let out a yawn.

Charmy, Vector, Espio, Knuckles, Amy, Sonic. Soon everyone was getting tired. "Hey guys, how 'bout, aughhhh, we call it a night?" Sonic said as he yawned before he had finished his sentence. Everyone nodded in agreement as lot's found themselves yawning as well. Well, what could they say? Yawning is proven contagious.

They got into their same groups and got quietly into their limo's. Knuckles looked so tired, he almost fell asleep once buckled up. "Get up handsome. You can fall asleep in your own home, not in the car." Rouge teased sleepily. Knuckles grunted but straightened his pose in a way to keep him from falling asleep.

"So… even if you got no jewels from the party, how did you think was it?" Knuckles broke their silence. Rouge blinked and thought about it.

"Fun." she admitted. "More fun then I thought it would be." Knuckles nodded his head in agreement.

"Even if I think this holiday is too mushy for my likings, I liked it too." he admitted as well. Sonic peered over his seat and smirked.

"Yep. I sure know how to create a mind-blown party." he chuckled. Rouge grinned.

"You mean you and Amy?" she teased. Sonic blinked and blushed.

"Yeah, I guess so... I mean, she's a nice kid when she's not chasing after me or trying to squash me to a pancake with that hammer." he agreed. Rouge nodded. She settled back into her seat to make herself cozier. "I think Tails thinks so too... About the party being good I meant. He's just sleeping so he can't answer at the moment. I can't blame the kid. I'm s_o _sleepy myself." he mumbled as he blinked a couple of times to keep himself awake.

Rouge sighed drowsily and looked at her special GUN watch. Usually it's for communication through radio or image but it could tell the time too. It was a bit after two a.m. or so. She closed her eyes as she relaxed and heard the car hum a reassuring one that told them it was taking them home. Soon enough, Knuckles was dropped off to where he said he'd go the rest of his way home. Tails was dropped by his workshop and Sonic said he's have a sleepover or something around those terms with him and that left Rouge alone.

Rouge watched the scenery she had seen earlier with Shadow appear as the car neared her house. She looked up at the stars to see beside the glowing moon, the metal structure of the space colony ARK. Shadow's home. Her mind trailed to thoughts of Shadow before she shook them all out.

Still though, she couldn't help but find herself a little guilty of the evens that took place in the morning. She sighed and decided that when she saw her best friend, she'd apologize. He'd most likely accept anyway. After all, weren't friends forgiving? Then again...Shadow wasn't really the more _best _friend you could get in that category. He hardly knew how to make friends after finally figuring out that not everybody is as evil as his biological father Black doom, or his creator's grandson Dr. Ivo Robotnik…also known as Eggman.

Soon enough, the limo stopped in front of her house where she got off it quietly and nodded thanks to the driver as everyone else had done. She entered the club quietly to find the lights were off. She traveled through the dark which wasn't so hard for her only for the fact she was a bat, and quickly navigated around the dark room, too lazy to switch the lights on, until a dim lighted room appeared in her view.

She went passed the bar itself until she went to the actual house compound area of the building. She found Omega by the window leaning against the wall directly in front of her. His eyes were not gleaming with light so he must be 'charging' or whatever robots did to gather energy rather then sleeping.

She passed this room until she came to the living room. She saw her best friend watching nonchalantly television as his usually expressionless face seemed dull.

"Hey Shadow." she greeted her friend.

"Hmph." he grunted. It wasn't darkly put though, just gentle.

"Sorry about the whole incident in the morning..."

"I don't care." Rouge was slightly taken aback by his words but she didn't show it.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so..."

"I already said that I don't care." After he said that, the room was utterly silenced. He then looked up at her. "I thought you'd come home earlier then now. I wanted to apologize in a way I only could on this stupid 'Valentines' but you never came." Rouge looked confused, then saddened by this.

"Sorry." she said. Before she could do anything else the dark hedgehog rose from his seat. "Here." he said as he held out a small, soft yet hard case. Rouge opened it to find on if the most beautiful jewel -if not the most- she had ever lay eyes on. She felt as if her heart skipped a beat.

"But...how did you-"

"When you were gone I felt sorry...so I bought this for you."

"It's-"

"-Not what you expected." he grunted and turned to walk away, his expression of controlled anger showed over his features. Rouge was taken aback by his sudden rejection, but decided not to do anything harsh and just direct him to the positive side of the situation and not the negative as always. The ebony hedgehog could find the negativity in anything.

"Not that. I was going to say it was the most wonderful gift I've ever gotten." she said quietly. Shadow stopped in his tracks but she could tell his expression stayed the same. Rouge sighed and walked over to her old friend. "I know that sounded mushy as of this but Shadow, thanks, even if you most likely won't care." she whispered in her ear as she hugged him. To her and even his surprise, he embraced her back. Shadow's face then turned emotionless once again, but a hint of a smirk played his lips.

He bent over and whispered in her ear, "Actions speak louder then words. I gave you a jewel...it's only fair if you give something to me back." Rouge blinked but then smirked as well.

"I'll give you a gift all right." she whispered and pecked him quickly but softly on the lips. Shadow blinked in surprise, but then regained his posture just as fast. Obviously that had not been what he had been expected. He most likely thought that bat would ignore him, buy him a present or something along those lines. Anything _but _what had just happened.

"What was that?" he said, his voice rumbling from his throat.

"A kiss. You should know that by now."

"Well, if that was a kiss...that was just sad...you of all people should know better." he whispered. It almost sounded...seductive... Rouge smirked once again. She bent over and kissed him, but this time, much longer. It was not long before Shadow joined into to kiss. It was still slightly short, but it gave enough of a message.

"That's your present." she whispered to him. Shadow raised an eye ridge.

"So I can't get a refund on this one?" he smirked, and upon seeing his friends face, he added, "But...I guess it'll do."

With that, Rouge and Shadow said a silent good night with a glance and took to their rooms to sleep of the tiredness that they had been fighting too long. Neither of them though, had noticed a small, one slightly prideful, and the other a slightly profiled smirk that rested on each of their faces.

* * *

_**A/N: Hoped you liked my story. Second longest story I think that I've made. Well, without the authors note to compare each other with it is. I don't know if it had any humor in it so I didn't want to put it in the humor category. I wanted to try something new for Valentine's and not a true lovey dovey story. It was originally suppose to be funny, but after I continued writing it turned out to be this. Sometimes I plan out my stories, others I write just what comes to my mind and plan nothing. This was such a story. Hoped you liked it and had/have a great Valentine's! If you want to criticize, be constructive! Also, I was watching lately Dragon Ball Z as well as reading some fan fics from the show, so I decided to use the exact personality of Vegeta -who Shadow was based of from- and use his personality for Shadow's instead of my usual writing technique of his personality. Shadow and Vegeta are the best! **_


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